Well, I got this one wrong. Glenn did live. By doing what everyone said he was going to do.
Glenn is not dead because Nicholas fell on top of him. Those were Nicholas’ intestines. Glenn will crawl under the dumpster (maybe someone else is there who will help somehow) and we really shouldn’t worry. Our fan favorite character is still on the show. (There are other faves, but Glenn is special. I think Daryl and Carol are special too, btw.)
Glenn’s escape became an instant internet cliche. Yet the showrunners went ahead and used it. They didn’t offer up a different twist (Nicholas was out of bullets and someone else did shoot him in the head, perhaps accidentally. Then after Glenn and Nicholas fall into the mob of walkers, the someone proceeds to pick off walkers until Glenn is covered with a protective shield of gooey, stinky zombies. The herd is led off and Glenn emerges. Fairly obvious, true, but at least it wasn’t what the entire Internet had already guessed had happened.) They went right on with what every pissed off fan already knew was going to happen.
[POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR BOTH SHOW AND COMIC FROM HERE ON IN.]
According to those who have read (I’ve not) the comic, Glenn is due for a fatal encounter with a new character named Negan, who beats him to death and this is why fans of both were supposedly so upset with his maybe death earlier in the story arc.
Most people who are complaining, about BOTH Glenn’s death and the manner of his resurrection, are characterizing the event as a trolling of the show’s audience. And I think it largely was. I can only think of one way that the show can redeem itself from that accusation. Kill Glenn for real next episode.
They took him out, they brought him back, and, just as we all begin to breath a sigh of relief, he’s gone again. That would be a real kicker.
I don’t think it’s going to happen (but as we’ve seen, I’ve been wrong before). But – Glenn and Enid are within sight of Alexandria’s walls. Chaos follows as the church tower takes out the wall. Glenn and Enid are able to use the distraction to get inside the walls. Rick rallies the Alexandrians (the walkers aren’t flowing through a large gap, they’re squeezing through the rubble); Daryl and Abraham and Sasha arrive and use the tanker to block the gap, while managing to lead a large portion of the herd off. In the midst of all the chaos, Glenn and Maggie are just about to reunite when – !
Glenn is gone again.
Or not.
Sidebar: The wall collapsing:
This is a screen capture of the very last frame of video (before going to black). The collapsing church tower entirely took out one wall panel and as you can see in the image, is partially taking down a second (behind the tree). More than likely, a third panel, on the other side of the tower, is also at least partially compromised.
Rick, Carl, Carol, and several others who are in the street watching the green balloons when the tower collapses are seen already running for weapons before the fall has completed (good instincts on their part – the experienced survivors don’t need to assess, they just react).
Chances look very good (to me) that there will only be relatively small gaps on either side of the remains of the tower, and that these will fairly quickly be clogged up with dead and impaled walkers. The fuel truck being driven by Daryl may come in very handy…plowing into the mob of walkers like a wall of defensive tackles going after Brady in the NFL.
Here are some other thoughts on the Glenn thing.
Daily Beast, Variety, Hollywood Reporter (and a follow-on from HR), Huffington Post, LATimes.
